


time for you

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Age Difference, Community: comment_fic, F/M, Het, POV Second Person, Rare Pair, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-08-12 01:33:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 486
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7915279
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>You're not sure when it started.</p>
            </blockquote>





	time for you

**Author's Note:**

> Theme: water  
> Prompt : any, any, you feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun
> 
> A description of a Joe West smile if ever I saw one!

You don't know when it started. 

Not when you first met, when it felt like you were encased in a solid block of ice after losing Ronnie. You were concentrating on your job, on rebuilding STAR Labs, on saving Barry's life. Sure, you and Joe ended up sharing way too many late night cups of coffee by his bedside, and you might even have noticed then how easy he was to talk to, what a nice man he was. 

But it was idle observation, if even that. 

It wasn't even after that, during that year when you found and lost Ronnie all over again. Oh, by that stage you might have noticed that, like Eddie, Joe was a handsome man, that you liked to see him smile, liked to hear him laugh. You might have noticed that you felt safe when he was around, had confidence that he would help come up with a plan, help execute it, return your found family to you with the minimum of harm. 

But nothing started then. 

Not when you had Jay - Hunter - Zoom - whatever the hell he wanted to call himself. You let yourself fall for him, let him into your heart, into your bed and afterwards, the double sting of loss and betrayal had matched any pain you felt when you lost Ronnie. 

You've blocked a lot of that time out but one thing you remember, clear as ice, is kneeling on the floor of the police precinct, looking up at Joe on the balcony. Your eyes met and you knew the question he was asking you without saying a word and you know that when you barely nodded your head, he understood. 

Just like you know that when he left, even though you were alone with a madman, you didn't feel alone.  

Maybe it was then. 

No, it was definitely then. 

Of course, life intervened, as it always does. Barry losing his powers, losing Henry, finally defeating Zoom, all that had to be dealt with. And then there was the time afterwards that Barry swears he remembers that you never will, but that has a shadow haunting Cisco's eyes and, if the shadows under them are anything to go by, his dreams as well. 

You take care of them both because they're your family,  because that's what you do. 

It comes as a bit of a surprise to realise that you're not the only one doing that. That you're not alone. 

Then one day when you and Joe have put everyone else back together, he turns to you and he smiles and it's like you're suddenly seeing him for the first time. You feel like an ocean being warmed by the sun and when he asks you if you'd like to go get a cup of coffee, you don't hesitate to say yes. 

You've both looked after everyone else for long enough. 

It's time for you now. 


End file.
